In partnership with
@1909 Club
Welcome, {{secret_name | Secret Reader}}
From the Bar
I caught Chris Hazelton at the 1909 Club. The Hammond B-3 sat on the stage like a diva. He's a lifelong Kansas Citian who studied under Everette DeVan and Dr. Lonnie Smith, and you can hear both lineages in his playing — gospel underneath, hard bop on top, funk in the seams. The 1909 is one of those underrated KC rooms for no good reason. Tin ceiling. Low light. A bar staff that is on point. If you've been sleeping on it, that's on you.
Hometown son, Tech N9ne, plays the Midland Sunday night. The hometown story: Aaron Yates from Kansas City, Missouri, who built Strange Music into one of the most successful independent rap labels in the country without ever leaving. KC artists go elsewhere to get bigger. Tech stayed and made the bigger thing here. A Memorial Day weekend show in the city that made him is the kind of moment you’ll remember being at.
Sunday is also Celebration at the Station. Twenty-second year. The Kansas City Symphony on the South Plaza of Union Station, the WWI Memorial lit up behind them, and a fireworks display off the roof at 9:30. It's free. Folks will sit out on blankets and listen to John Williams and Florence Price and Gershwin, and at the end there will be fireworks!!
Memorial Day didn't start as a long weekend. It started as Decoration Day in 1868, three years after the Civil War, when General John A. Logan called for a national day to lay flowers on the graves of Union soldiers. It became Memorial Day after the World Wars, when there were too many graves and too many names…
One more thing — it's the final weekend for The Wizard of Oz at KC Rep, a collaboration with the PigPen Theatre Co. If you've been meaning to go, this is it.
Long weekend ahead. Pace yourself. Tip your bartenders.
I’ll see you at the bar ☾
—Jay, SecretKC editor
🥃 The Can’t Miss List
Rooms that always understand the assignment.
Hotel Bar · Evening
Bar Stillwell
Grown-ass bar energy. The best place to begin and end adventures.
Cocktails · Evening
Verdigris
Johnson County's most serious cocktail room. Worth the drive.
The Monarch Bar
Serious cocktails, serious energy. A clean handoff between dinner and the night.
Cafe · Day or Night
Café Corazón
Indigenous-owned Latin American café. Specialty coffee, yerba mate, empanadas, tamales. Not just a coffee shop. A room with a point of view. 3 locations
The Collagen Your Morning Routine Has Been Missing
Most collagen supplements deliver on one promise. Carrara delivers on five.
Pique's Carrara Marine Collagen combines Type I marine collagen for visible skin radiance with rare Type II collagen from wild Hokkaido salmon, a first-of-its-kind pairing that supports both surface glow and deeper structural resilience. Add biotin for stronger hair and nails, micronized pearl powder for luminosity, and a rich coconut cream base that makes your daily ritual feel indulgent rather than obligatory.
This isn't a supplement you tolerate. It's one you look forward to. Stir it into your morning coffee or matcha and it works from the inside out to build the foundation beauty products can't reach.
Designed for superior absorption, results come faster than traditional collagen. Not a quick fix. A long-term investment in how you look and feel. 🧜♀️✨
PS: Interested in being featured in Secret KC? Limited spots available each week → Become a Sponsor!
🇺🇸 Memorial Day Weekend
Celebration at the Station · Sun / 5–10 PM The 22nd year. Free. South Plaza of Union Station and the North Lawn of the WWI Museum. This year honors the U.S. 250th anniversary. The U.S. Air Force Academy Stellar Brass Quintet opens at 5 PM, the Heartland of America Band's Raptor at 6 PM. Symphony takes the stage at 8 PM under guest conductor Stuart Chafetz, with special guest Aubrey Logan — John Williams, Joplin, Gershwin, Florence Price. Fireworks at 9:30 PM off the roof. The streetcar runs free until 11 PM. → Union Station Kansas City
🍸 The Weekend
Tech N9ne · Sun / 7 PM Hometown legend. Strange Music founder back at the Midland for a Memorial Day weekend show in the city that made him. → The Midland Theatre
Divas Night Out · Fri Evening Delynia, Jannell, and Erin Jones share the Blue Room stage for a Friday night of soulful jazz, R&B, and commanding presence. Divas Night Out is one of the Blue Room's most popular recurring series — vocalists trading songs, stories, and the kind of energy that only comes from friends who love what they do.
→ The Blue Room
St. Paul & The Minneapolis Funk All-Stars · Fri / 8 PM Minneapolis funk revue carrying the Prince-era torch. Knuckleheads is running two strong shows on different stages the same night — pick your room. → Knuckleheads Saloon
Three Dog Night · Sat / 8:30 PM The classic rock anchor. "Joy to the World." "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)." Star Pavilion is open-air, doors at 7:30 PM. 18+ unless with an adult. Tickets → Star Pavilion at Ameristar
The Blacklist · Any Night New in Leawood's Mission Farms. Victorian wine bar on one side, speakeasy on the other. Small-production wines from around the world, gin-forward Prohibition-era cocktails, Get the Perfect Negroni! → The Blacklist
🥂 Date Nights
The Petite Pilot's Birthday at The Monarch · Thu / 8 PM–12 AM DJ Ness on the decks. A curated cocktail menu, light bites, and a crowd gathered to celebrate the start of summer. No ticket required — just your good energy. → The Monarch Bar
Chloé McFadden Duo at Chaz · Sat Plaza jazz lounge. Vocal-led, intimate, the room you bring people you want to impress. → Chaz at the Raphael
Night/Shift: Iconique · Thu / 5–9 PM Free, museum-wide creative night themed to the Timeless Mucha exhibition. DJ Baby spins French new wave, rock, and disco in the Bloch Lobby. Closing act is Stephonne and the City of Fountains Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence — a performance-fused fashion show inspired by '60s and '70s cover art. Pre-show at 7 PM in Kirkwood Hall, final show 7:45 PM in Atkins Auditorium. 18+ encouraged. → The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
👨👩👧👦 Family Friendly
The Wizard of Oz · Final Weekend Last chance. KC Rep's collaboration with PigPen Theatre Co. — a stage adaptation that brings the magical land of Oz to life with original music and inventive staging. → Kansas City Rep
Last Call 🍸☕️
Espresso Martini Café de Olla
Not every closing line happens at the end of the night.
Some happen late enough to call brunch. That's where Café Corazón lives.
Kansas City's first Latin and Indigenous coffee house. Founded by familia — Miel Castagna-Herrera, Curtis Herrera, and Dulcinea Herrera — built on Miel's Argentine heritage and Curtis's Mescalero Apache and Méxican roots. They roast their own beans. They're the premier café in the Midwest serving traditional Yerba Mate. They were named Kansas City's #1 Business for Equality and Inclusion and a Top 10 Business in the city for 2025.
Three locations now. Westport at 1721 Westport Rd, the original, the one where it all started. Brookside at 5911 Main, the neighborhood move, slower mornings, regulars who know the staff. Crossroads at 110 Southwest Blvd, the gallery-walk anchor, the one with the events and the energy on First Fridays.
Here's the move. Order the empanadas. Pick a few — the menu rotates, you can't lose. Then order the Mocha Flight so you taste the range of what they do with their own roast. Then order the Espresso Martini Café de Olla. Espresso, the cinnamon-and-piloncillo warmth of café de olla, the kick of a martini. Three drinks in one cup. Mexican coffee tradition reframed as a cocktail.
Eat. Drink. Sit a while. Look around — the art is by Latin and Indigenous artists, the music is curated.
Then go home and take a nap.
Stay sharp, KC ☾